A friend of mine recently sent me a link to the following article from the economist.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2013/06/arabic?fsrc=scn%2Ffb%2Fwl%2Fbl%2Farmiesandnavies
In the article the author discusses an issue all too familiar to students of Arabic; linguistic diversity. The author points out that what we call "Arabic" today is really a conglomeration of regional "dialects" (or perhaps separate languages) tied together by a common "literary Arabic" which is a modernized version of the classical Arabic of the Quran. The author argues that what we call "Arabic dialects" are quite possibly different languages, the linguistic similarity between them being closer to that of French and Italian than Manchester and London English.
Of course in a short blog post the author would be hard pressed to discuss this issue with the proper shades of complexity and the argument he makes is one echoed quite often by frustrated students of Arabic. I myself used to subscribe to a similar line of thinking. However, my opinion on the subject has taken a shift recently.
After spending time in Jordan and Egypt I am currently studying in Morocco. Like many Moroccans (and also similar to many people from my home state of Mississippi), my host family's life revolves around day time television. Moroccan TV is a constant flow of soap operas from India, Turkey and Mexico. The programs are dubbed into Arabic for my family's viewing pleasure. The previous norm was to dub these shows into standard Arabic (making for some quite awkward romance scenes; ie "انا احبكِ كثيراً يا ماريا", " و انت كذلك يا جون").
Recently, however, channels have begun dubbing these programs into dialects with the trend being Syrian. This means that in a given day my Moroccan host family will probably view Adil Imam in an Egyptian comedy followed by a Turkish mafia film dubbed in Syrian and then a Mexican soap opera dubbed in MSA (Modern Standard Arabic).
Despite never studying any of these dialects my family can easily understand them with little difficulty and no Google translate. It is true that many Arabs from the Mashriq (i.e. Egypt, the Levant and the Gulf) would have difficulty understanding Algerian or Moroccan soap operas (not that they are missing much any way). I would argue that this is because they simply are not exposed to these dialects. I have met Egyptians living in Morocco who have told me that while Moroccan Arabic was difficult at first, after a few months they were able to communicate and understand with ease. I doubt the same could be said for Italians living in France.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2013/06/arabic?fsrc=scn%2Ffb%2Fwl%2Fbl%2Farmiesandnavies
In the article the author discusses an issue all too familiar to students of Arabic; linguistic diversity. The author points out that what we call "Arabic" today is really a conglomeration of regional "dialects" (or perhaps separate languages) tied together by a common "literary Arabic" which is a modernized version of the classical Arabic of the Quran. The author argues that what we call "Arabic dialects" are quite possibly different languages, the linguistic similarity between them being closer to that of French and Italian than Manchester and London English.
Of course in a short blog post the author would be hard pressed to discuss this issue with the proper shades of complexity and the argument he makes is one echoed quite often by frustrated students of Arabic. I myself used to subscribe to a similar line of thinking. However, my opinion on the subject has taken a shift recently.
After spending time in Jordan and Egypt I am currently studying in Morocco. Like many Moroccans (and also similar to many people from my home state of Mississippi), my host family's life revolves around day time television. Moroccan TV is a constant flow of soap operas from India, Turkey and Mexico. The programs are dubbed into Arabic for my family's viewing pleasure. The previous norm was to dub these shows into standard Arabic (making for some quite awkward romance scenes; ie "انا احبكِ كثيراً يا ماريا", " و انت كذلك يا جون").
Recently, however, channels have begun dubbing these programs into dialects with the trend being Syrian. This means that in a given day my Moroccan host family will probably view Adil Imam in an Egyptian comedy followed by a Turkish mafia film dubbed in Syrian and then a Mexican soap opera dubbed in MSA (Modern Standard Arabic).
Despite never studying any of these dialects my family can easily understand them with little difficulty and no Google translate. It is true that many Arabs from the Mashriq (i.e. Egypt, the Levant and the Gulf) would have difficulty understanding Algerian or Moroccan soap operas (not that they are missing much any way). I would argue that this is because they simply are not exposed to these dialects. I have met Egyptians living in Morocco who have told me that while Moroccan Arabic was difficult at first, after a few months they were able to communicate and understand with ease. I doubt the same could be said for Italians living in France.
Out of curiosity, are any shows dubbed in French?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely. I've seen a few hollywood films dubbed in French.
ReplyDelete